bibliophilicwitch reviewed Witchshadow by Susan Dennard
None
4 stars
Unlike the last three books, Witchshadow was not written with a linear timeline and instead jumped forward weeks past the events of Bloodwitch with our characters in extraordinarily unexpected circumstances. I'm sure the goal was to create suspension and tension, but it just caused confusion and slowed down the plot as the reader was slowly shown the past events in flashbacks. Meanwhile, the current events were not as engaging as the flashbacks because the lack of information created a disconnect for the reader.
The piecemeal reveal of certain worldbuilding, because it is baked into the overarching plot, has also made it harder and harder to follow said plot. I grew so confused about the Paladins and Cahr Awen and the current factions that I paused my reading to google and write down a page of notes. Again, this is likely meant to build suspension and allow for exciting plot reveals, …
Unlike the last three books, Witchshadow was not written with a linear timeline and instead jumped forward weeks past the events of Bloodwitch with our characters in extraordinarily unexpected circumstances. I'm sure the goal was to create suspension and tension, but it just caused confusion and slowed down the plot as the reader was slowly shown the past events in flashbacks. Meanwhile, the current events were not as engaging as the flashbacks because the lack of information created a disconnect for the reader.
The piecemeal reveal of certain worldbuilding, because it is baked into the overarching plot, has also made it harder and harder to follow said plot. I grew so confused about the Paladins and Cahr Awen and the current factions that I paused my reading to google and write down a page of notes. Again, this is likely meant to build suspension and allow for exciting plot reveals, but instead the reveals often fell flat because I couldn't remember what the reveal meant in relation to the rest of the world and characters.
There was a lot of good development with Isuelt and Safi (and Aeduen and Marrick) in addition to an interesting ending. Very interested to see where the next book goes from here.
